Ireland won't be singing in Bulgaria next May. RTÉ, the national broadcaster, has confirmed it will neither send an act to the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest nor air it, citing what it called the appalling and ongoing loss of civilian life in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there. It's the second consecutive year Ireland has sat the contest out.
Ireland wasn't alone in 2026 — the Netherlands, Iceland, Slovenia and Spain all stayed away for the same reason. And the boycott list for 2027 is already growing: Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS announced last month that it, too, won't take part, saying Eurovision can no longer be seen as neutral while a participating country is involved in a large-scale military conflict.
Eurovision's director, Martin Green, responded that organisers regret RTÉ's decision but fully respect it, noting broadcasters choose annually whether to participate and that dialogue will continue. Whether other holdouts return for the Burgas edition — or more join the exit list — remains the open question heading into next spring.
The 2027 contest lands in Burgas, a Black Sea port city, after Bulgarian singer Dara won the 2026 title in Vienna with her party anthem Bangaranga. The show will be held in May, as usual.
Some background for context: Eurovision began in 1956, partly as a way to rebuild connections across a post-war Europe, and now pits acts from dozens of countries against each other each year. Israel has competed since 1973 and is one of the few non-European participants, but calls to exclude it have grown louder during the Hamas-Israel war. The last three editions — Malmö in 2024, Basel in 2025 and Vienna in 2026 — all saw pro-Palestinian protests and noticeably heavier security.
Why should a traveller care? If you were planning a Eurovision week in Burgas, the on-stage product will look slightly thinner on familiar names — no Irish fan camp, no Dutch delegation. But the event itself is going ahead, and host cities routinely see a surge of visitors, flights and accommodation demand concentrated in contest week, so booking early matters more than ever for 2027. Burgas also makes a genuinely useful base beyond the show: it sits on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast near the resort strip of Sunny Beach and the historic town of Nessebar, a UNESCO-listed site of ancient churches and cobbled lanes. If the politics of the contest don't affect your plans, May is a pleasant shoulder-season window on the coast — warm enough for the seafront, before the peak summer crowds arrive.
For fans who follow the contest year to year, the bigger story is whether Eurovision's postwar unifying idea can survive an era when broadcasters are willing to walk away on principle. For now: no Ireland, no Netherlands, and a Bulgarian host city with the spotlight to itself.